Rarity grinned madly. It may have taken all day to get here, but she’d made it; 7:30. Time to enact phase two of her plan. Time to go tail Pinkie Pie.

This was it; The moment of truth. Well, not the moment of truth, but it was the moment leading up to the moment of truth.

Okay, so it was a moment leading up to the moment of truth, but that was all semantics anyway.

Rarity was ready. Having donned her beautiful black stealth suit, put out food and water bowls for Opal, turned out all the lights in the boutique and locked all the doors, she silently stealthily slipped out into the cover of night.

It was almost as beautiful a night as Wednesday had been, but Rarity barely paid it any mind as she crept up on Sugarcube Corner. Any moment her quarry would be stepping out into the open air, away from the protection of her fortress of baked goods and into… Not danger, per se – certainly Rarity intended her no harm – into her trap, then. She would step out into the night, lead Rarity to the location of her secret betrayal, and Rarity would expose her friends for the lying... 'Jerks' was probably too strong a word, but it would have to do. The lying jerks they were. Oh yes, it was going to be grand. Not that Rarity bore them any ill will; She simply wanted to satisfaction of triumph; for her friends to know that hiding something from Rarity was not only unethical, but entirely unthinkable.

And, of course, she wanted their opinions on the stealth suit. If she played her cards right, she could see it becoming a hot seller for her.

Granted, if it turned out they really were just bowling, Rarity could always come up with some excuse for why she was suddenly free, and they would all buy it if it meant getting to bask in her glorious presence for the evening. Yes, Rarity had perfectly concocted a win-win situation for herself, and nothing was going to ruin her mood now.

She’d barely made it to the bushes outside Sugarcube Corner when she saw her hapless pink friend emerge from the door. She didn’t go in the bushes, mind you, as that was a level of debauchery she was unwilling to submit herself to; Simply hiding behind them was good enough, after all, given her amazing stealth suit.

It took but a moment for Pinkie to finish taking a large breath of fresh air and begin hopping along in her signature fashion. Carefully avoiding the pools of light cast by the street lamps, Rarity tip-toed a good 20 paces behind her. She started out by heading North on Candy Cane Lane. Then she went West on Caramel Apple Drive, followed by South on Hillock Street. Rarity was confused when she turned East onto Earth Pony Way and crossed over Candy Cane Lane again, but she dismissed it as being Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.

Wait.

No, it wasn’t Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Was her cover blown? How could Pinkie Pie possibly know she was being followed?

But that was impossible. Simply impossible. It was just her nerves getting to her, that had to be all. There was probably a downed tree branch or sinkhole or flaming manticore on a quest to revive King Sombra between Earth Pony Way and Sugarcube Corner, and Pinkie had simply taken a detour to avoid it. She had her Pinkie Sense, that was believable.

Unless her Pinkie Sense told her she was being followed. Rarity stopped in her tracks as she suppressed a gasp.

Pinkie Pie hopped along.

No, that was stupid. All this worrying was stupid. Maybe if the infernal butterflies in her stomach would SHUT UP for a second and let her think, she could calm down enough to carry out this mission properly, but since that didn’t seem likely, she decided to drown them out by humming a theme song for herself. Quietly, of course.

Doo doo da doo do doo doo.

Of course, three more jaunts north and south followed by two more crossings of Candy Cane Lane were enough to convince Rarity that either Pinkie Pie didn’t know where she was going herself, or there was in fact no bowling alley at all.

Perhaps I should go tail Twilight instead…

Doo doo da doo do doo doo!

The library was easy to find even in the middle of the night. The tree it was built in stood a good half a house taller than all the buildings that surrounded it, and its location in the middle of a large open space made it visible from half the town away. Not that Rarity needed any help finding it, as she’d been there plenty of times before and knew the way like the back of her hoof. Just, if she had gotten lost while attempting to follow Pinkie, it was useful to be able to see it.

Rarity crept up on the library and waited. She wasn’t sure how much time she’d wasted following Pinkie Pie, but the clock tower hadn’t struck 8 yet, so she felt safe in the knowledge that Twilight wouldn’t have left the library yet. She always closed up at 8 on a Friday, and when Pinkie was hosting a party that began at 8, she would typically teleport to her destination as soon as she…

Shoot. Rarity brought a hoof to her forehead as she heard the clock tower strike the hour. Right on cue Twilight emerged from the library and brought a well of purple magic energy to her horn before disappearing in a flash.

Rarity groaned. How was she supposed to know where this bowling alley was when nopony was willing to unwittingly lead her there!? The only thing she knew about bowling was from that one time Spike had told her about how he’d gotten a ‘Turkey’; while Rarity had no idea what poultry had to do with rolling a heavy ball down a wooden ramp into some white pins, he had made it sound like something that was supposed to be impressive. Apparently he was good at it, she supposed.

Wait a second, Rarity thought, recalling what she’d just seen. Spike wasn’t with her… Why wouldn’t he go along if he’s so good at it? Rarity quickly glanced around and saw nopony looking, so she stepped up to the door and knocked.

“Library’s closed, come back tomorrow,” came Spike’s voice from the other side of the door.

Rarity cleared her throat. “It’s me, Spikey-Wikey! Can I come inside?”

Rarity had to suppress a giggle as she heard the various locks inside the door coming undone. It took but a moment for the door to fly open, and standing there was Spike, smiling brightly. “Hey Rarity! What’s up,” Spike said before suddenly dropping his smile and giggling. “What’s that thing you’re wearing?”

Rarity gave Spike’s head a gentle rub as she moved past him into the library’s main room. “It is a stealth suit, if you must know.”

“But… why are you wearing it?”

“Because I’m on a mission. Now, do you know where Twilight has just gone?”

Spike looked confused for a moment. “Gravity Appreciation Day?”

Rarity shook her head. “Gravity Appreciation Day is a fraud, Spike. A front, even. Those ponies are up to something.”

Spike raised an eyebrow at that. “What do you mean?”

“I mean they’re hiding something from me, and I intend to find out what it is!” Rarity gave a determined stare, stamping one hoof firmly on the ground in front of her. “Pinkie Pie told me they were going bowling, and yet they didn’t invite you?”

Spike raised a claw. “Actually, they did invite me.”

Rarity stopped. That didn’t make any sense. “And you didn’t want to go?”

Spike shook his head. “Not really. It’s pretty late, I usually go to bed pretty soon. Don’t get me wrong, I love Pinkie’s parties, but I like the ones that happen, you know, during the day. Besides, Pinkie almost always comes by the day after and shares the leftovers with me when I don’t come to the parties, so it’s like, why go to the ice cream when I can get the ice cream brought to me?” Spike chuckled and licked his lips.

Rarity tapped her chin. Very interesting. “I… see. I am surprised, you understand, because I expected you would wish to join them, knowing how good you are at the game..”

Spike started blushing as he held his claws behind his back and kicked the floor. “Yeah, but again,” Spike yawned as if to punctuate his point, “I’ve gotta get up early to open the library, and Twilight might be willing to guzzle espressos to be alert in the morning, but I prefer to get my rest. Twilight says it’s my metabolism. You know... ‘cos I’m a dragon.”

Rarity frowned. Were they really just bowling after all? “No… But… There was so much evidence…”

“I dunno Rarity, it kinda sounds like you might be overreacting.” Spike said with a worried look.

“Overreacting? Well If I’m overreacting, it is only because...” Rarity began, but stopped short of voicing her thoughts. This was beginning to sound awful silly, wasn’t it? Here she was, passing up an opportunity to go have fun with her friends, instead spending time sneaking around and spying. How had she even come to this conclusion in the first place? Because Applejack had smiled too widely? Surely there was an innocent explanation for all this. Spike was right. She was just overreacting, that was all.

“... Because I’m being silly. I’m sorry Spike, I think I’ve blown this whole thing way out of proportion.” Rarity sighed. Well, at least it was only a few minutes after 8. She could still go to the party and see her friends and have a wonderful time. She could just say the order was cancelled. That was believable, right?

“It’s okay Rarity,” Spike said, walking over to her. She cupped a hoof around his back and pulled him into a hug, which he returned, blushing all the while.

“Well then… I think I shall go to Gravity Appreciation Day after all. Would you care to join me, Spike, or is the siren call of bed too strong?” Rarity asked, looking down at him.

Spike’s eyes grew wide for a moment. He looked up toward his basket in the loft, then back to Rarity. She could see the internal battle waging in his mind. He giggled a bit before finally nodding. “Sure, I’ll come.”

“Excellent. Then we shall go… How does Pinkie put it? Elevate the ceiling?”

“Raise the roof,” Spike corrected as he laughed.

Rarity and Spike made their way out of the library and toward the bowling alley quickly. Thankfully, Spike knew where it was, which made finding it quite easy. No longer having to confine herself to the shadows to avoid detection, Rarity laughed gaily as Spike told jokes, and happily regaled him with details about the latest fashion trends in Canterlot, including which ones she thought she might try her hoof at and those she felt were guaranteed to die out immediately.

It took but a few minutes to reach their destination, and Rarity was greatly relieved to see Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy standing outside the alley talking. She couldn’t hear them from her location, but just seeing them all, actually at the bowling alley, meant it was true; Her fears were unfounded. Her friends weren’t lying to her. Rarity smiled down at Spike, who did the same, and then took a step toward them.

It’s just like Fluttershy said, Rarity mused. I’ve got to have more faith in my…

Rarity stopped as she saw her friends suddenly begin trotting away from the bowling alley, further down the street. She exchanged a puzzled look with Spike, who shrugged.

They didn’t go far, however, as Rarity immediately found out. Only a few doors down she saw the five mares stop abruptly and head inside a small, dimly lit building. Rarity trotted out front of it and looked up at the sign.

“No… no no no. They wouldn’t…”

Spike caught up to her a few seconds later, panting heavily. “What… what is this place?” He asked, placing his claws on his knees as he caught his breath.

“Spike… Our friends have just gone into…”

“A dive bar.”

Doo doo da doo do doo doo.